Rejane

Beautiful, intelligent, quick-witted, and highly talented, Gabrielle Réju, known as Réjane, was–along with Sarah Bernhardt–the most celebrated French actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A luminous ”queen of the boulevard,” she stunned audiences in New York and London as well as in Paris. Critics too were dumbstruck by her forward-looking style of representation, described as ”Nerve Art” by her contemporaries. She found her greatest successes in contemporary plays by such authors as Meilhac, Sardou, Bernstein and Bataille. But unlike her friend and rival Bernhardt, Réjane has largely disappeared from memory. It is the mission of “Réjane: Queen of the Boulevard” to help restore her to her rightful place in history. The book begins with a knowledgeable essay by François Baudot, and includes scene photographs by such renowned contemporaries as Paul Nadar and Charles Reutlinger. These images commemorate a woman who personifies like no one else ”La Parisienne” and the days of ”La Belle Epoque.” Hardcover, 15.5 x 13 inches, 96 pages, 120 color illustrations.